Thursday, 14 July 2011

Well it was nice to have some football back, even if it took Arsenal Player until the middle of the first half to show it. You can't really learn too much from these early games but it was good to see the vision of Aaron Ramsey and the never-say-die attitude of Jack Wilshere haven't disappeared over the summer.

I was also impressed with the new boys. I thought Carl Jenkinson performed solidly against a tricky left winger and Ryo Miyaichi showed promising signs.

The four goals were important too and they will lift the player's confidence and show they're moving in the right direction with their early season work out.

I was very disappointed with Denilson's reaction to being substituted. The club say he was injured but that doesn't ring true for me. Anyway with any luck he'll be on his way. I've always supported him - even when others have turned against him I have stuck up for him - but I think it's better for all concerned that he moves on as quickly as possible.

Whilst there is no point taking apart the performance play-by-play just yet, I think the signs are all there that come August 13th Arsene Wenger's team will be ready for Newcastle.

I think the most interesting thing to come of this match were the manager's post match comments.

In answering a question about whether he has the board's support on allowing Samir Nasri to run down his contract and leave for nothing next summer - which Wenger said he did - he went on to say this:

"On one hand people say I don't spend enough and when I spend people say I spend too much. It's very difficult to find the right medium."

When has our manager every been criticized for spending too much on a player? He hardly spends a bean and when he does he treats every pound as if it's his own and drives a hard bargain. Look how long it took us to agree a fee with Lille for Gervinho.

Personally I do not believe that it is good footballing business to allow Nasri to leave for free next summer. We lose out on an exceptional transfer fee for a player in the final year of his contract and have to pay Nasri's £4m wages for another year. Deciding to keep Nasri is not a "technical" decision as Wenger puts it. It is a financial one. It makes perfect sense to cash in on him now and buy a player who will be committed to the club for the next few years.

Luckily we've missed out on one of our back-up targets with Aston Villa confirming last night that they'd accepted a £20m offer from Liverpool for Stewart Downing. Whilst a good player, I would certainly be critical of Wenger if he'd spent that amount of money on the Englishman.

Next we'll come to Xavi's comments after he said - and it was posted on the official Barcelona website:

"I spoke to Cesc in Ibiza and he said he was suffering because he wanted to come.

"It's more like, he did everything he could to come and wants to leave Arsenal, although he made it clear that now everything depends on the selling club."

There is nothing new here really. We all know deep down Cesc has a desire to join Barcelona because after making denials via the official site in recent years, he's become very silent when it comes to saying he wants to stay with us.

I do believe he has a very strong affection for Arsenal and won't say anything publicly to agitate for a move back to Spain. I suppose after pocketing a reported £3m loyalty bonus last summer, Cesc can say little about his desire to join Barcelona.

Cesc might be suffering and that is all down to one club. Barcelona. If they were prepared to meet Arsenal's valuation of him, I think we all know Cesc wouldn't be at the club. So Arsene Wenger is right to call Xavi disrespectful.

"It is very disrespectful, and it is not the first time that Xavi has been disrespectful to Arsenal Football Club.

"If I found Barcelona in exactly the same position, I believe a mutual respect between the clubs should stop this kind of comment.

"I believe that I cannot comment on every comment. What is important is that Cesc Fabregas is contracted to Arsenal Football Club. That is a fact. Arsenal wants to keep him and all the rest is comment."

I would love Cesc to come out and declare his commitment to Arsenal, the club he is paid by and agreed to sign a contract to play football for until 2015. But I have very little hope that he will.

Is £3m the price we pay for Cesc's silence?

In other news it appears Patrick Vieira won't be returning to Arsenal just yet as the Daily Mirror report he's decided to work at Manchester City as a coach. Whilst the Daily Star don't get to the bottom of why Seb Larsson decided to join Sunderland rather than return to the Grove.